Product Overview

Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country," Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter reaches to our nation's historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act has on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful Chillingworth. With "The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne became the first American novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a universal classic, a masterful exploration of humanity's unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.

Specifications

Author Info

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne lived much of his life in Concord, Massachusetts, where he was briefly at Brook Farm, the experimental transcendental community. One of his ancestors was a judge in the Salem witchcraft trials and became the model for the accursed founder of "The House of the Seven Gables". Hawthorne traveled extensively in Italy and set "The Marble Faun" there. His novels, particularly his most famous work, "The Scarlet Letter", made his reputation, but he is also considered a master of the short-story form.

Praise

"THE SCARLET LETTER has the charm of unconsciousness; the author did not realize while he worked, that this 'most prolix among tales' was alive with the miraculous vitality of genius. It combines the strength and substance of an oak with the subtle organization of a rose, and is great, not of malice aforethought, but inevitably."

From the Publisher

Annotation

Hawthorne's classic novel of guilt and redemption in pre-Revolutionary Boston provides vivid insight into the social and religious forces that shaped early America. A woman named Hester Prynne, having become pregnant while her husband was apparently lost at sea, is publicly shamed by being forced to wear a scarlet letter "A" across her chest at all times. Despite the torment and humiliation of the Puritan villagers, Hester refuses to identify the father of her daughter, Pearl, who becomes the flesh and blood symbol of her infidelity. Unbeknownst to the rest of the village, Hester's husband returns to take up residence in Boston under the assumed name of Roger Chillingworth, and he begins nurturing thoughts of revenge. Meanwhile, Hester's only supporter is a minister named Arthur Dimmesdale, who suffers terribly from a mysterious ailment. Eventually, Hester, Pearl, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale will come to realize that the weight of a public sin becomes easier to tolerate over time, while the burden of hidden guilt becomes so heavy that it will eventually crush the bearer.